Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Hero by Alethea Kontis (Woodcutter Sisters #2)

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?"

I went into Hero totally excited…I loved Enchanted, the first installment. It has such a silly and fun vibe. This volume of the Woodcutter series still had that same fairy tale feel but was a little bit more serious.

I have to admit I don’t particularly care for Saturday, of all the sisters she is my least favorite. I did enjoy that she is not considered beautiful; she is a flat chested strong girl, so quite far from the normal beautiful Mary Sues I am used to reading about. She doesn’t seem to care about her appearance too much. I found her a little too stubborn and like the author was trying too hard to get her away from girly stuff and into a tomb boy. The character natural fits into the masculinity role easily without much pushing, so it was unnecessary for the reader to be reminded of it all the time.

The cover is pretty bad... I mean it looks pretty...but that SO isn't Saturday on the front.

The plot line was a little all over the place and I found it kind of jumpy, but it was still fun…Evil witches, magic, dragons, shapeshifters and a boy in a skirt….All fantastical and entertaining.

I have to admit I was more interested in the back story surrounding Seven (the mother) and her sisters than I was Saturday’s tale. I also craved more about Monday’s lost daughter and Thursday, the pirate queen. I figure those story lines will be continued in the next books.

The love story was a little ridiculous and very insta-love, which was unfortunate because the novel didn’t need them! Saturday and her adventures could have managed on their own without mushy gooshy love…or if the love had only been hinted at.

We finally meet Jack Woodcutter which is nice since they talk about him ALL THE TIME.

The magic was great and the world the author has created was imaginative and very fairy tale like. Like an epic quest your mom would have regaled you with stories of when you were small.

Over all I enjoyed reading this…it wasn’t as good as the first one, but it was fun and I can’t wait for the next book.